Winterization operations on Costa Concordia wreck

To further stabilize the wreck for the winter

As the winter season gets closer, works to increase stability of the Costa Concordia wreck are in progress at Giglio island, according to Parbuckling Project.

Image Credit: The Parbuckling Project

The adverse meteo-marine conditions registered during the past week end, that caused minor movements of the wreck considered by engineers as a physiological settlement of the wreck on the fake seabed, have confirmed the need to move forward with the so-called winterization measures to further stabilize the wreck for the winter making it ready to face the worse possible weather scenarios.

This Commissioner for the Concordia emergency Franco Gabrielli, the Chairman of the Observatory Maria Sargentini, at the presence of the Mayor Sergio Ortelli and representatives from Costa and Titan Micoperi, met the population of Giglio to update on the activities planned and ongoing.

Winterization measures were the focus of the meeting. The activities foreseen are three:

• positioning of an additional hold-back system to avoid movements of the bow,
• installation of removable grout bags in the area between the wreck and the rocks on the land side (this activity began on 7 October),
• the positioning of tubular structures that will connect the underwater platforms to the wreck itself (will be attached to the top of the sponsons) on the sea side.

In the meantime, structural surveys on the starboard side are in progress to define the repair operations necessary to position the 15 sponsons needed for the refloating phase.

Environmental monitoring is also on going and results confirm Giglio sea water quality.